Influence of Ag nano-powder additions on the superconducting properties of Mg $B_2$ materials

Silver nano-powder was added to Ma $B_2$ to make (Ag)$_{(x)wt.%}$(Mg $B_2$)$_{(l00-x)wt.%}$ (A $g_{x}$-Mg $B_2$) (10 $\leq$ x $\leq$ 50) composite superconductors to investigate the effect of the Ag nano-powder on the vortex pinning. Pellets made out of the mixed powder were put inside stainless steel tubes, which were sintered at 85$0^{\circ}C$ in Ar atmosphere. No impurity phase was identified for as-rolled samples. However, both the Mg $B_2$ and the A $g_{x}$-Mg $B_2$ composite pellets, when sintered, contain small amount of Mg $B_4$ and MgAg impurity phases. From the magnetization study, it was found that the flux pinning was improved in the high magnetic field region (> 3 T) only when 10w/o Ag was added to Mg $B_2$. The "two step" structures in ZFC M(T) curve gradually increased as the amount of Ag added increased. Pinning centers can be created by adding a suitable amount of Ag nano-powder which is not too large to increase the decoupling between the Mg $B_2$ grains.crease the decoupling between the Mg $B_2$ grains.